can you write something for "a character who keeps getting found napping in odd locations… and it turns out that’s all the sleep he’s getting"? :D
I ABSOLUTELY CAN!!! You have to forgive me for how monumentally long this took. Between work and just generally sucking at keeping myself on track, I’ve actually kept on this one pretty hard since I got it! I know it doesn’t look like it, it’s so small and underdeveloped I’m sorry but anyway this gave me an idea and I just sort of...ran with it. Or....hobbled slowly. But I have plans to keep running with this, if y’all like it! Anyway, here we are!
[TW: briefly mentioned torture, briefly mentioned gore, sleep deprivation, and general fuckery]
“Seriously? Of every soft spot, nook, and cranny in this entire compound, including your own bed, you choose a floor shelf in the munitions bunker?”
The words drifted through the stuffy room like smoke, jumbled and swirled into obscurity by the exhaustion currently holding him under. He was awake...but at the same time, he was most certainly not. More like the base defense mechanism had been kicked on in a system still lying dormant.
Like sleeping with one’s eyes open
His mind continued to splutter and spark, trying to ignite in light of what could very well be approaching danger. Thoughts churned in unrecognizable blurs, a typhoon battering him back under the waves of unconsciousness. He would have given in completely, had it not been for the hand suddenly combing through his hair.
That pulled him back to the waking world posthaste
The hand quickly pulled away as he shifted. Alandra crouched in front of him, peering into the little hidey hole he had created between boxes of dehydrated fruits. It couldn’t be comfortable. He’s barely under six foot!
And yet there he lay, scrunched up and hiding behind the mop of curls he refused to get cut. In such a vulnerable position, he looked...small. Defenseless. It would have been endearing, if she weren’t so concerned.
What was he doing down here?
He let out a splitting yawn that cut her thoughts short before wriggling out of the tiny space with a practiced ease. He fell the half inch from the shelf to the dusty floor, waiting until he had made contact before unfurling and stretching gangly limbs that had to be aching.
All she could do was stand up straight and back away to give him his space, though she kept her face fixed in a way she hoped conveyed her need for an explanation.
After stretching, he hopped up from the floor easily and fixed his mischievous grin back in place. The one that let her know, before he had even opened his mouth, that whatever would follow would be complete and utter bullshit. It was an expression she was far too familiar with.
“You try sharing quarters with Matti and see if you don’t need a nap every now and then. The man snores like an earthquake!”
He was jogging out the door, a quick “see ya, got training soon!” thrown over his shoulder, before she could so much as think about formulating a response.
That might have worked, had Matthias not been something of a night owl himself. She had found him working on reports in the commons, and after a quick glance to ascertain their isolation, had asked him if everything was alright with Kalun.
Maybe he would know, maybe he wouldn’t. But she had figured the best place to start would be with his roommate
“I do not snore. Besides, it’s not like he would know even if I did. He’s never in our quarters at night now.”
That was not what she wanted to hear
“What do you mean by that? And how would you know, if you’re asleep? Maybe he just...I don’t know, comes in late?”
He merely laughed again, this time a little more genuine. A little sadder.
“I guess that could be the case, but considering I’ve been up until about 4 am nearly every night the past two weeks. Even if he is coming in later than that, he wouldn’t be able to learn much about the room’s ambient noise in the two hours before Deya wakes him for his duties.”
“For God’s sake, why are you getting to sleep that late?”
”I’m fine, I've just been cramming. As soon as this round of examinations is finished, I’ll be back to hitting the hay at a decent time.”
They chatted for a few more minutes about training, upcoming missions, and the like. But both left the conversation with heavier hearts than when they had started
Maybe she was just reading too much into this. She knew Kalun would say as much, if she were to tell him she were worried.
He would likely be annoyed at me digging into his personal life too
She couldn’t explain exactly what it was that pushed her to keep looking into this. What made her worry so much.
She couldn’t explain it, but no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn’t shake it.
And so after a day of trying to put her mind on anything else, she had decided to check with Deya. She was closer to him than anyone else within the compound. Maybe she would know what was up.
He sat atop the roof, knees pulled tightly to his chest, and gazed up at the glittering stars.
The world was beautiful at this time of night. Crickets chirped lullabies to the drowsy earth, and a cool breeze whisked the final dregs of the daytime heat off beyond the horizon.
In the darkness, no one could see his tears slowly streaking the concealer down his face, revealing gruesome splotches of purple and black beneath his eyes. They could not catch a misplaced beam of light illuminating just how scrawny he had become, beneath the baggy clothes he wore like armor.
They could not see the monster eating him alive from within.
He had not been able to sleep in almost a month, now. Not since he had picked up that fucking book, and condemned himself.
Cat naps were fine, he had found. He could drift in that place between sleep and waking, where your body seems to float an inch off the ground and you can hear the world around you but not touch it, with no issue. It was when he sank into the depths of exhaustion, letting true sleep overcome him and submerge him in a restorative blackness, that the monster would come to terrorize him.
To paralyze him and feast upon his utter fear and agony.
He would rip open his abdomen and tear through organs, sometime smashing them. Sometimes biting into them. No matter what, it brought down suffering upon him. He stayed in a hellscape he could not escape from for what felt like centuries, his captor toying with him and rewinding time to spend more time with his prey.
It seemed to like it when he screamed. But he never screamed loud enough.
He was not able to escape unless someone woke him. He could not rouse himself of his own volition.
And so he sat, most nights, out on the roof and watched the stars. He gazed at the belt of the great hunter, and wondered if even Orion could beat the beast who haunted him behind closed eyelids